Facilities, challenges, attitudes, and preferences of nursing students related to e-learning in the Covid-19 pandemic in Iranian context: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: During the Covid-19 pandemic, nursing schools worldwide were forced to deliver nursing courses in ways other than the traditional face-to-face classroom setting. Numerous lessons were learned by nurse educators regarding the use of electronic and online learning strategies. It is necessary to be aware of the factors affecting e-learning and identify the strengths and weaknesses to improve the student learning experience and process in nursing school. AIM OF STUDY: The present study aimed to identify the abilities, attitudes, challenges, and preferences of nursing students regarding e-learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recognition of these factors can help nurse educators make needed modifications to teach more effectively. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 228 undergraduate nursing students participated. The random sampling method used a standard questionnaire that students completed voluntarily. SPSS version 22 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: During the Covid-19 pandemic, the majority of nursing students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences participated in electronic classes at home using mobile phones. Students reported that logistical problems increased by participating in e-classes by their phones due to difficulty typing and frequent internet outages. Online classroom management for instructors was difficult due to students spontaneously leaving the virtual online classroom rather than attending the entire learning session. Despite the technical challenges, the attitudes of students towards the e-learning format were positive. There was a noted correlation between student attitude by gender and educational background. Students preferred that professors used more PowerPoint, showed instructional videos, and had interactive group discussion sessions rather than lecture only. Students objected to attending more than two online classes in one day if the duration lasted more than 60 min and had a rest time of fewer than 30 min between classes. CONCLUSION: Despite the overall positive student satisfaction with e-learning, this method of education is still far from student preferences and requires planning for an effective learning experience that meets their priorities and preferences. Using a hybrid of face-to-face and e-learning approaches together can be a more effective teaching method than either strategy alone.

Emergency Department Discharge Teaching Interventions: A Scoping Review.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency department discharge education is intended to provide patients with information to self-manage their condition or injury, identify potential complications, and follow-up or referral. However, most patients cannot recall the discharge information provided, leading to adverse clinical outcomes, return visits, and higher costs. A scoping review was undertaken to explore discharge education interventions that have been studied in the emergency department setting and outcomes that have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions. METHODS: A literature review was conducted using the databases PubMed/Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Education Resources Information Center, with search terms focused on emergency nursing and patient discharge education interventions. RESULTS: Of the publications identified, 18 studies met the inclusion criteria. There was variation among studies on the conditions/injuries and populations of focus for the intervention. The interventions were categorized by learning styles, including auditory (n=10), kinesthetic (n=1), visual (n=15), reading/writing (n=1), and multimodal (n=7). Outcomes evaluated included those that were patient-specific (education, self-management, clinical, and adherence) and metrics of the health system and public health. DISCUSSION: Multimodal discharge education that addresses various learning styles and levels of health literacy improved patient education, self-management, and clinical outcomes. Additional support and reminders improved patient adherence. Identified gaps included limited kinesthetic interventions and culturally tailored education. Translational science for advancing sustainable interventions in clinical practice is needed to enhance the emergency department discharge process and patient, system, and public health outcomes.

Do I have your attention? Attention and engagement: What are they, and do I want them?

Why are my students not paying attention in class? Why are they not engaged? What am I doing wrong? These are questions that even seasoned faculty pose in moments of self-reflection. Although it is good practice for educators to continually evaluate their presentations for areas of improvement, it is unfortunately also true that questions of why students lack attention or engagement in class are often raised by school administrators as subtle implications of failure on the part of faculty. But why is it so hard for our students to pay attention? Why is it that students' focus can so easily ebb away during a class? Why are my students seemingly indifferent to the presented material? To address these issues, and to provide solutions that can be incorporated easily into class preparation and presentation, it is important to define precisely what we mean by attention and engagement. Are they the same thing, and if not, how do they differ? To what extent is the student responsible for acquiring and applying the material presented? Ultimately, of course, the student is accountable for learning the material and passing exams, but there are practices that we as educators often employ that erect hurdles and barriers to student learning, that can make the process significantly harder than it needs to be.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although many articles and books exist describing various classroom strategies to increase student engagement, often advice to newer faculty is given as prescriptive ways to organize a class or to repeat what was given by the last person who presented the material. Yet irrespective of the structure of the class or learning environment, there are subtle hurdles that many faculty erect that hinder a student's progress. This Personal View discusses some of the potential barriers educators put up that deter effective student learning and, importantly, offers advice on how those barriers can be dismantled.

Learning styles of medical students and related factors.

BACKGROUND: The concept of learning style is quite important for teachers to teach, organize students' learning experiences, and accomplish educational goals. Motivation is one of the most important psychological concepts in education. Motivation is multidimensional and ranges from amotivation to extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. When students are motivated extrinsically, they enjoy striving toward rewards and goals which may differ from individual goals. Intrinsically motivated students enjoy exploring, learning, and curiosity-oriented academic efforts. Understanding learning styles can make it easier to create, modify, and develop more efficient curriculum and educational programs. It can also encourage students' participation in these programs and motivate them to gain professional knowledge This study aims to determine the learning styles of medical school students and to evaluate whether there is a relationship between their learning styles and academic motivation and the sociodemographic variables. METHODS: In this study a questionnaire containing socio-demographic factors, Grasha-Reichmann Learning Styles Scale, Academic Motivation Scale was filled out by 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th -year medical students of the 2019-2020 academic year. Frequency, percentage, mean, ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, and independent group t-test (for analyzing data with normal distribution) were applied. Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test, and Spearman correlation analysis were used for analyzing data without normal distribution. RESULTS: We found that the mean of independent learning was the highest among the learning style dimensions, and the mean of the intrinsic motivation to know (IMKN) was the highest among the academic motivation dimensions. We found that there were significant relationships between independent learning and intrinsic motivation (IM), between avoidant learning and extrinsic motivation (EM) and between collaborative learning and IMKN, IM to accomplish things (IMAT) and IM to experience stimulation (IMES). CONCLUSION: We think that different teaching methods can be applied to strengthen collaborative learning, participant learning, and intrinsic motivation. We hope that this research will contribute to medical education on the subject of establishing appropriate teaching methods. Teachers have to plan and implement activities based on students' learning styles and academic motivation to encourage students to effectively participate in the classroom.

Different scoring methods of the VARK questionnaire to evaluate dentistry Students' learning styles.

INTRODUCTION: The way students process and organise information to facilitate learning is known as learning style. Knowing one's learning style can improve learning and help teachers choose their teaching methods more effectively. This study was conducted to investigate different scoring methods of the VARK questionnaire and compare different learning styles in different stages of dental school. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Students in three stages of the dental school participated in this study: basic sciences, preclinical and clinical. The validated reliable Persian VARK questionnaire was utilised. Collected data were computed and analysed in three ways: raw, normalised and weighted scoring by ANOVA and chi-squared tests (α = .05). RESULT: The most favoured learning style was auditory; however, the prevalence of other learning styles varied through stages. On analyses of visual and auditory learning styles by all methods of scoring, no significant difference was seen in different stages (study time). The kinetic learning style, using normalised scoring method, was used more significantly when the grade increased (p-value = .028). However, in the weighted method, this effect was not significant. The read-write learning style using all three scoring methods showed an inverse relationship with the level of education (p-value <.05), which means the tendency to use this style of learning decreased when the level of education increased. CONCLUSION: As the educational level increases, students are more inclined to use kinetic and less likely to employ read-write learning style. There was not a significant difference in the use of visual and aural learning styles in any stages of dental school.

A novel color labeled student modeling approach using e-learning activities for data mining.

Student modeling approaches are important to identify students' needs, learning styles, and to monitor their improvements for individual modules. Lecturers may incorrectly identify the students' needs and learning styles based on solely an exam grade or performance in the class. In doing so, students need to be classified using more parameters such as e-learning activities, attendance to virtual live class (for theory and practice) and submission time of the assignment, etc. This study proposes a novel color-labeled student modeling/classification approach using e-learning activities to identify students' learning styles and to monitor students' weekly improvements for individual modules. A novel Student Classification Rate (SCR) formula was created by combining three stages including pre-study stage, virtual_class stage, and virtual_LAB_class stage. In the evaluation part of the SCR, Artificial Neural Network and Random Forest algorithms were employed based on two different feature sets for an Object-Oriented Programming Module. Feature set 1 consisted of a combination of e-learning and regular data while the feature set 2 was referred as the combination of the SCR and the regular data. Random Forest yielded the lowest MAE (0.7) by using feature set 2. Also, the majority of the students' (81%) learning styles referred to attending the live virtual class. Students' weekly learning progress was also monitored successfully since the Pearson correlation was measured as 0.78 with the 95% confidence interval between the mean of SCR and lab grades. Additionally, SCR used for two more different modules yielded convincing results in the determination of students' learning styles. The obtained results reveal that the proposed SCR approach has significant potential to correctly classify students, identify students' learning styles, and help the lecturer to monitor the students' weekly progress. Finally, it seems that SCR would have a significant impact on improvement of students learning.

Development of a novel, theoretically motivated scale to assess cognitive learning styles related to the autism spectrum.

BACKGROUND: Although theoretical efforts have been made to address the cognitive learning styles of individuals on the autism spectrum, no instrument to measure such learning styles is currently available. The current study aimed to develop such a scale based on the learning style theory of Qian and Lipkin (Front Hum Neurosci 5:77, 2011). METHODS: Response data from total of 768 undergraduate students was used for this study. This sample was split into two subsamples of N = 460 and N = 308 for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), respectively. The correlations between the resulting new subscales and some other potentially related measures were examined. RESULTS: A three-factor structure with 19 items was obtained measuring need for task clarity/familiarity, susceptibility to cognitive load, and the grasping of conceptual relations. CONCLUSIONS: This newly developed measure can be used to help understand the nature of the individual differences in cognitive processing that are evident across both the autism spectrum as well as the overall population more generally.

Crossword puzzle as a learning tool to enhance learning about anticoagulant therapeutics.

BACKGROUND: Educational games make the learning process more enjoyable, fun, and create a competitive classroom environment that can positively affect learning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pharmacy students' perceptions of crossword puzzles (CWPs) as a learning tool in the pharmacotherapy cardiovascular module focusing on anticoagulants' therapeutics and assessing if students' preference of learning style influenced their perception. METHODS: Clues for the puzzle were developed, validated, and piloted by course faculty. A free internet puzzle generator was used to create puzzles with 10 to 20 clues. Students were given 30 min to solve the puzzle following six hours of didactic lectures about the topic. An 8-item survey instrument and Pharmacists' Inventory of Learning Styles (PILS) questionnaire were administered to examine students' perceptions of the game and their learning style preference, respectively. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-seven students participated in the activity from both undergraduate programs (BPharm and PharmD) over three consecutive course offerings. Most students expressed favorable perceptions of the puzzle. Female and BPharm students had significantly more favorable perceptions than male and PharmD students on several perception items. The dominant preferred learning style (PLS) was converger (35.6%), followed by assimilator (25.3%), while 15.1% had mixed learning styles. The study did not find a significant association between PLS and students' perceptions toward the CWP. CONCLUSIONS: The CWP game presented an innovative, creative, and easy active learning tool to enhance information recall, retention, and class engagement while accommodating all learning style preferences.

A multi-centre study of learning styles of new nursing students.

AIMS: To describe beginning nursing student learning styles and to determine whether there are relationships between learning style and sociodemographic or educational background. We also aim to compare these data with the normative values of the 3.1 version of the Kolb learning style inventory and verify its reliability. BACKGROUND/LITERATURE: Learning style is related to the way in which an individual interacts with learning conditions, involving cognitive, affective, physical and environmental aspects. In nursing education, few studies have focused on knowing the learning styles of beginning nursing students, despite the need for students to develop critical thinking skills required of nurses. DESIGN: Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational, multi-site study. METHOD: The study took place at five universities in Brazil and one university in the United States. Data were collected from a sample of beginning nursing students (n = 176) in 2019, using the Portuguese and English 3.1 versions of Kolb's learning style inventory. RESULTS: Most students' learning styles were classified as divergers (34.10%), while 28.41% were assimilators, 23.86% were accommodators and 13.63% were convergers. Kolb describes learning as a four-stage cyclical process grounded in experience. The mean score of one learning stage, the concrete experience, showed those who attended public high schools compared with private high schools was higher (mean = 26.22; p = .0019), and there were different results between Brazilian state universities, Brazilian federal universities and the American university (p = .0149). CONCLUSION: The diverger style was the most common among beginning nursing students in Brazil and the United States. There was a significant relationship between learning style, the educational background of students, the type of institution they attend and their previous experience with some active learning methodologies. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Aligned with Kolb's experiential learning theory, nurse educators must be aware of student learning styles so they may use teaching strategies to meet their students' needs.

Communicating Actively, Responding Empathically (CARE): Perceptions of Cancer Health Professionals Attending Communication Training Workshops.

Communication skills training is standardly offered to health professionals working in cancer; however, there is no consensus on the precise style or duration of training, which is most effective. This study aimed to examine the experiences of health professionals who had participated in either a 1-day communication skills training workshop focusing on experiential learning or a 2-h workshop in which participants discussed different communication styles demonstrated on purpose-designed videotapes. Twenty health professionals comprising ten from each workshop type participated in a semi-structured interview with an interpretative descriptive design. Participant characteristics were summarised using descriptive statistics. Thematic analysis was conducted. Consistent themes across both groups were the importance of good communication and perceived barriers. All participants strongly endorsed the value of their respective training experience and considered this was due in part to the skill of facilitators and the creation of a supportive learning environment. Role plays were reported to be helpful in promoting skill development, and some participants in the 2-h workshop indicated that they would have liked the opportunity to practice new skills through role play, which was not possible in the short workshop. Participants self-reported increased confidence following both workshops and perceived improvements in delivery of person-centred care. Both the 1-day and the 2-h communication workshops were a positive experience for the groups who attended. The 1-day communication workshop offered an opportunity for experiential learning, which the 2-h group felt would have been worthwhile; however, both groups found value in attending the workshops.

Impact of COVID-19 on Teaching the Tooth Morphology Course to the New Generation of Learners: A Cross-sectional Study.

AIM: The purpose of the study was two-fold. First, to evaluate students' learning style and relate it to their academic performance. Second, to highlight changes implemented in the tooth morphology (TOMO) course as a response to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was performed during 2021-2022 with 101 dental students. Didactic lectures were delivered online and students challenged with nine quizzes and one final examination. Didactic score was calculated by averaging the scores of quizzes and the final exam. Lab score was a combination of five lab projects and the final competency. At course completion, students received a survey on their learning style and how they would like to receive feedback. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess differences in didactic and lab scores among groups. RESULTS: Many students perceived themselves as visual learners (39%) followed by kinesthetic (24%), aural (19%), and reader (18%). There was no difference among learning style groups in performance of didactic (p = 0.340) and lab scores (p = 0.845). Students preferred that the instructor talks them through the questions for feedback on quizzes (41%) while they preferred demonstrations when receiving feedback on their wax-ups (51%). Most students (75%) preferred a TOMO teacher that uses demonstrations. 2020-2021 marked the year of the pandemic where all lectures were delivered online and waxing projects were performed at-home. A postpandemic transformation occurred during 2021-2022, reverting to conventional in-person lab sessions while keeping online didactic lectures. CONCLUSION: We conclude that TOMO should be delivered by using various teaching styles rather than focusing on a single method while providing more demonstrations. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Teaching tooth morphology to the new generation type of learners efficiently will affect the clinical work of dental graduates.

Modeling with Real-Time Informative Feedback: Implementing and Evaluating a New Massive Open Online Course Component.

As part of the design, development, and deployment of a massive open online course (MOOC) on model-based systems engineering, we introduced MORTIF-Modeling with Real-Time Informative Feedback, a new learning-by-doing feature that enables the learner to model, receive detailed feedback, and resubmit improved solutions. We examined the pedagogical usability of MORTIF by investigating characteristics of participants working with it, and their perceived contribution, preferred question type, and learning style. The research included 295 participants and applied the mixed-methods approach, using MOOC server data and online questionnaires. Analyzing 12,095 submissions, we found increasing frequency of using the model resubmitting option. Students ranked MORTIF as the highest of six question types in terms of preference and perceived contribution level. Nine learning style categories were identified and classified based on students' verbal explanations regarding their preference of MORTIF over the other question types. MORTIF has been effective in promoting meaningful learning, supporting our hypothesis that the combination of active learning with real-time informative feedback is a learning mode that students eagerly embrace and benefit from. The benefits we identified for using MORTIF include active learning, provision of meaningful immediate feedback to the learner, the option to use the feedback on the spot and resubmitting an improved model, and its suitability for a variety of learning styles.

TESOT: a teaching modality targeting the learning obstacles in global medical education.

In higher education, it is a great challenge for instructors to teach international medical students (IMSs) efficiently. These students usually have different learning obstacles and learning style preferences from domestic students. Thus it is necessary to use teaching modalities targeting the specific characteristics of IMSs. Accordingly, we have developed a teaching modality composed of classical teacher-centered approach (TCA), enriched with components of student-centered approach (SCA) and online interactions targeting the learning characteristics of IMSs, which we defined as TESOT (an acronym made of the underlined words' initials). Aside from the online interactions that provide both answers to questions raised by students and guidance throughout a course, this modality contains additional in-classroom components (i.e., pre-lecture quiz, student-led summary, and post-lecture quiz). The effectiveness of this modality was tested in the nervous system module of the Physiology course for IMSs. The final exam scores in the nervous system module in the year taught with TESOT were higher than those earned by students taught with a classical TCA modality in preceding 2 yr. The improvement of teaching effectiveness is attributable to increasing communication, bridging course contexts, and meeting diverse learning style preferences. These results indicate that TESOT as an effective teaching modality is useful for enhancing efficiency of teaching IMSs.

The renaissance of online medical education.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a change in medical education in Israel. The suspension of clinical clerkships has set in motion the implementation of online lectures. Tutors have been able to teach from their wards, continue to be available for urgent patient care, and students have been able to learn uninterruptedly and safely at their homes. According to previous studies, learning online can be compatible with recommended learning techniques such as space repetition, which allows students to accumulate knowledge in the most effective way for them according to their learning needs and preferences. This can enhance their learning experience and maintain long-term memory.

Differences in medical student performance on examinations: exploring score variance between Kolb's Learning Style Inventory classifications.

BACKGROUND: Kolb's Cycle of Learning Theory acts as a foundational framework for the evolution of knowledge gained by learners throughout their education. Through Kolb's cycle of experiential learning, one's preferred way of learning could impact academic achievement in the pre-clinical years of medical education. METHODS: The medical student classes of 2020 and 2021 at a public university in the southeastern U.S. were invited to complete Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI). For those participants completing the LSI, examination results for their pre-clinical blocks were obtained and matched to the LSI results. Examination scores (locally-developed examinations and customized National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) final examinations) were compared by LSI classification for each examination using Kruskal-Wallis Test. RESULTS: Out of 360 possible participants, 314 (87.2%) completed the Learning Style Inventory. Convergers and Assimilators made up 84.1% [Convergers (n = 177, 56.4%), Assimilators (n = 87, 27.7%)]. Accommodators (n = 25, 7.9%) and Divergers (n = 25, 7.9%) made up the remaining sample. Accomodators' scores were significantly lower on locally-developed examinations in Principles of Medicine, Hematology, and Gastrointestinal System. The only NBME examination that demonstrated a significant difference across learning styles was from the Cardiovascular block. CONCLUSIONS: Upon reviewing Kolb's LSI, our study indicated that performance on the customized NBME examinations minimized the variance in performance compared to locally-developed examinations. The lack of variance across learning styles for all but one NBME final examination appears to provide a more equitable assessment strategy.

Preferred teaching styles of medical faculty: an international multi-center study.

BACKGROUND: In the current wave of educational reforms, understanding teaching styles of medical faculty can help modify instructional strategies for effective teaching. Few studies have probed distinctive teaching styles of medical faculty. We compared preferred teaching styles of faculty from seven medical schools in United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sudan. METHODS: The validated Grasha-Riechmann teaching style inventory was administered online for data collection and used SPSS version 20.0 for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 460 invitees, 248 responded (response rate; 54%). Delegator teaching style was most common with a highest median and mean of 2.38 and 2.45, respectively. There was a significant correlation between expert and authority teaching styles, correlation coefficient 0.62. Similarly, we found a significant correlation between authority teaching style and nature of curriculum, correlation coefficient 0.30. Multiple regression analysis showed that only authority teaching style and male gender had significant correlation. Interestingly, 117 (47%) teachers disagreed with the teaching philosophy of delivering course contents by strictly following learning outcomes. Female teachers (114/248) were more willing to negotiate with their students regarding how and what to teach in their course, while male teachers tended to allow more autonomy by allowing students to set their learning agenda. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the medical teachers preferred delegator teacher style that promotes students' collaboration and peer-to-peer learning. Most teachers are conscious of their teaching styles to motivate students for scientific curiosity. These findings can help medical educators to modify their teaching styles for effective learning.

Assessment of learning styles of undergraduate medical students and its effect on examination outcomes - a cross-sectional study done in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the learning style preferences of undergraduate medical students and the effect of the preferred learning style on examination outcomes. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted from April to September 2018, at Poonch Medical College, Rawlakot, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir Medical College, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, and comprised students from 2nd to 5th year. Data was collected using 16 item visual, aural, read/write and kinaesthetic questionnaire version 7.0. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. RESULTS: Of the 406 students, 203(50%) belonged to each of the two colleges. None of the students preferred unimodal or bimodal learning styles, while 191(94.1%) at Poonch Medical College and 189(93.1%) at Azad Jammu and Kashmir Medical College preferred quad-modal and the remaining preferred trimodal style. Among the combination of learning styles, aural in different combination was preferred by 201(99.01%) of Poonch Medical College students and 202(99.51%) at the other institution. There was no statistically significant relationship between the preferred learning style and examination outcomes (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the participants preferred multiple sensory modalities for learning.

Ensemble Learning Using Fuzzy Weights to Improve Learning Style Identification for Adapted Instructional Routines.

Mobile personalized learning can be achieved by the identification of students' learning styles; however, this happens with the completion of large questionnaires. This task has been reported as tedious and time-consuming, causing random selection of the questionnaires' choices, and thus, erroneous adaptation to students' needs, endangering knowledge acquisition. Moreover, mobile environments render the selection of questionnaires' choices impractical due to confined mobile user interfaces. In view of the above, this paper presents Learnglish, a fully developed mobile language learning system incorporating automatic identification of students' learning styles according to the Felder-Silverman model (FSLSM) using ensemble classification. In particular, three classifiers, namely SVM, NB and KNN, are combined based on the majority voting rule. The major innovation of this task, apart from the ensemble classification and the mobile learning environment, is that Learnglish takes as input a minimum number of personal (i.e., age and gender) and cognitive characteristics (i.e., prior academic performance categorized using fuzzy weights), and solely four questions pertaining to the FSLSM dimensions, to identify the learning style. Furthermore, Learnglish incorporates adapted instructional routines to create an individualized learning environment based on students' learning preferences as determined by their style. Learnglish was fully evaluated with very encouraging results.

Learning styles of physiotherapists: a systematic scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Understanding students' learning styles, and modifying teaching styles and material accordingly, is an essential to delivering quality education. Knowing more about the learning styles of physiotherapy learners will assist educators' planning and delivering of learning activities. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore what is published about physiotherapy learning styles. METHODS: An adapted Arksey and O'Malley framework was applied to undertake this systematic scoping review. Nine electronic databases (CINAHL, BIOMED CENTRAL, Cochrane, Web of Science, PROQUEST, PubMed, OTseeker, Scopus, ERIC) were searched using the keywords: 'learning styles' and 'physiotherapy'. English-language, primary research articles that investigated physiotherapy learners' learning styles were sought. RESULTS: Of 396 potentially-relevant articles, 15 were included in this review. The studies mostly reflected undergraduate students (910 undergraduates, 361 postgraduates, 23 professionals), in developed countries. Nine articles used the Kolb's experiential learning theory (ELT); one study applied Honey and Mumford's approach; two studies used the Gregorc model of cognition and three studies did not specify an underlying theory. Outcome measures included different versions of Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, the visual-aural-read/write-kinesthetic questionnaire, Gregorc style delineator, Felder Silverman's Index of Learning Survey, and Honey and Mumford's Learning Style Questionnaire. The preferred physiotherapy learning styles, according to the ELT, seem to be Converger (learns "hands-on" and applying previously attained knowledge) and Assimilator (gathers and organises information to make the most sense). CONCLUSIONS: Both physiotherapy learners and physiotherapists have specific learning styles of active participation, underpinned with practical examples of theoretical concepts. More research is needed in developing countries, and on postgraduate and professional physiotherapy learners' learning styles. Also, further research should focus on defining and describing physiotherapy learning styles in a way to be used as an industry standard; and developing valid and reliable learning style outcome measures applicable across physiotherapy learners and settings.

The relation of dental students' learning styles to their satisfaction with traditional and inverted classroom models.

BACKGROUND: The authors' medical school has adopted an inverted classroom model (ICM) for physiology classes. This study aimed to determine students' learning styles and investigate the relationship between learning style and satisfaction with different instruction approaches and components of the ICM. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-one second-year dental students participated in this study, which had a 77.6% participation rate. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory, a sociodemographic questionnaire, and a satisfaction survey were administered after course completion. RESULTS: In both the traditional and ICM classes, most of the participants were convergers (56.9 and 54%) and assimilators (20.7 and 25.4%), and the rest of the participants were accommodators (15.5 and 12.7%) and divergers (6.9 and 8%). Learning style did not influence participants' satisfaction and did not predict their satisfaction with the traditional and ICM approaches. The satisfaction scores for the four components of the ICM were not significantly different by learning style. The mean satisfaction scores of the ICM approach were higher than those of the traditional approach in all learning style groups. All of the participants in the ICM class were more satisfied with the online and teacher-student interaction components than the student group discussion and presentation components. CONCLUSIONS: Learning style may not be a potential contributing factor for optimizing the implementation of the ICM. Instead of focusing on learning styles, further research must investigate how to design more efficient online courses, determine appropriate levels of learning materials, provide more online instructional interaction, and help students overcome their feelings of fear.